Devices for electronically capturing a handwritten user input are marketed by the assignee of this invention, StepOver GmbH, Germany, under the trademarks: blueMobile Pad, plusPad, blueM Pad and +Pad II/III. Such devices are also generally known from German patent publication no. 198 59 932 A1. In general, such devices and/or signature pads comprise a housing adapted to be attached to a wall or adapted to be set on a base, e.g., a table or the like. The housing includes an input field on the front side of the housing. A user can make an input on the input field, e.g., using a normal pen or also using a writing implement adapted to the type of the input field. In particular, such devices and/or signature pads are utilized for the purpose of electronically capturing a signature of a user and optionally for further processing and/or storing of the captured signature data.
Electronics for this processing are accommodated in the housing underneath the input field. Such electronics facilitate the electronic capture of the user input on the input field and/or allow the digital storage thereof. Current is supplied to the device either via a network cable or via batteries or accumulators integrated in the apparatus and/or the signature pad.
In the above-mentioned devices and/or signature pads, the input field, on which a user can make a handwritten user input using a writing implement, is disposed centrally and/or in the middle relative to the right and left housing edges of the device. However, it has been found that a user can not optimally sign on the input field of such a known device, since such known apparatuses have relatively small outer dimensions, while also having a minimum thickness of more than 1.6 cm or even more than 2.0 cm.
Consequently, on the one hand, a user can not fully rest his/her writing hand on the housing when signing on the input field and, on the other hand, it is not reasonable for the user to support his/her writing hand partially on the housing and partially on the base or the wall due to the thickness of the housing (i.e., the relatively large distance between the top surface of the housing and the base, on which the device is set), because such an awkward, tilted positioning of the hand is inconvenient and/or uncomfortable when signing.